Agents taking the weekend off and hope for property bounce next month
It’s almost a weekend off for estate agents, according to Australian Property Monitors.
There are just the 50 or so auctions in Melbourne and some 160 in Sydney, where the Sunday NRL grand final doesn’t clash as directly with the traditional Saturday street theatre.
On the comparable weekend last year there were about 50 auctions in Melbourne.
And the 200 in Sydney in 2010 was Sydney’s recent peak as there had been 180 in 2009 and 128 in 2008.
Melbourne’s grand final day peak was about 135 in 2009, a big jump on the 22 in 2008, and up also on the 120 Melbourne homes for auction in 2007.
In 2009 some estate agents suggested selling a house in Melbourne amid grand final hype was almost sacrilegious.
In 2009 overseas buyers with no interest in the premiership were highly active and vendors sought auction-day bids.
At the time the CBD agent Robert Wright noted Chinese money had been pouring into blue-ribbon Melbourne real estate since the change in ownership laws in early 2009 and demand was running hot.
"Asian buyers do not stop for local football," Wright of Elite Real Estate told The Age.
Anthony Toop at the Adelaide agency Toop & Toop says the 2011 football finals have had “less impact on the local market” than usual due to the ordinary season by the two South Australian teams.
